The face of health reform is not uniform across the country. Some counties have almost 30 times more choices of health insurance plans than others.
Arizona and Florida are being viewed as hotbeds of insurance competition, with several counties boasting 80 to 170 plans, according to data analyzed from HealthCare.gov by USAToday.
The stats also show a clear reluctance on the part of insurers to move into states where they are not already doing business.
Insurers are being especially careful during this rollout year for the Affordable Care Act, sticking to places where they already have established networks of doctors and hospitals. That has led to few choices in some areas and may have contributed to the slow sales on the federal exchange.
Wendell Potter, a former spokesman for Cigna insurance, says insurers are risk averse, and want to know how the market will behave before jumping in. As he puts it, shareholders have no patience for this kind of uncertainty.